what if the government was to absolve this debt, would it be accepted by fifa or could it be perceived as government tampering? and if not, would fifa accept such an intervention and remove their measures on the TTFA?

I suggested this a while back but people said why should the govt bail them out... I’m like because it impacts the nation in a positive manner...

Now you will get pnm saying, oil is plummeting so we don’t have the money to help football but even when oil was high it’s the same excuse.. at least Wallace and Ramdhan was much more transparent than previous admins and could have been trusted to bail out football for the betterment of our society

It wouldn’t be considered tampering if they inject it into football directly and monitor payments with no direct control over it.. but then you have to ask yourself, Rowley was there when infantino visited and was neck and neck... I wouldn’t put it past them that the govt is also complicit as well and have sold out

listen mate I’m not going to get into the political ping pong with you but i certainly disagree with the notion that the the prime minister had any hand in this nonsense, especially when he called out infantino when he made his speech at the opening of the home of football, even I was embarrassed when rowley went on to say that fifa was a mafia and initially he was very skeptical about getting involved in the project, and he would reserve all judgement until later.

from my position, dr rowley is a straight shooter who speaks his mind and it showed when he had no reservations in telling the big boss infantino how he felt about fifa and was pulling no punches in that regard. as for the government paying this debt off, it’s not a pnm or unc thing, it all depends on if it’s legal and would it be supported by the tax payers themselves.

it’s an election year, and with this virus eating away at the worlds economy and oil prices at an all time low, this might be the worst time to even think about parting with funds for insignificant ventures. remember how patrick manning was reviled for giving the World Cup players a million each?

I would add that our corrupt govts have added to our plight and have not contributed to sport and football to help us get rid of these parasites bc they themselves are also parasites

Thanks. I actually cleaned up the article a lot so as to seem professional and not completely just call out the FA Presidents across the region for being corrupt and only wanting to promote in their own self-interests. I also wouldn't have used "teeth" in the title, but as I believed it was going to be published, I cleaned that up too

what if the government was to absolve this debt, would it be accepted by fifa or could it be perceived as government tampering? and if not, would fifa accept such an intervention and remove their measures on the TTFA?

I suggested this a while back but people said why should the govt bail them out... I’m like because it impacts the nation in a positive manner...

Now you will get pnm saying, oil is plummeting so we don’t have the money to help football but even when oil was high it’s the same excuse.. at least Wallace and Ramdhan was much more transparent than previous admins and could have been trusted to bail out football for the betterment of our society

It wouldn’t be considered tampering if they inject it into football directly and monitor payments with no direct control over it.. but then you have to ask yourself, Rowley was there when infantino visited and was neck and neck... I wouldn’t put it past them that the govt is also complicit as well and have sold out

listen mate I’m not going to get into the political ping pong with you but i certainly disagree with the notion that the the prime minister had any hand in this nonsense, especially when he called out infantino when he made his speech at the opening of the home of football, even I was embarrassed when rowley went on to say that fifa was a mafia and initially he was very skeptical about getting involved in the project, and he would reserve all judgement until later.

from my position, dr rowley is a straight shooter who speaks his mind and it showed when he had no reservations in telling the big boss infantino how he felt about fifa and was pulling no punches in that regard. as for the government paying this debt off, it’s not a pnm or unc thing, it all depends on if it’s legal and would it be supported by the tax payers themselves.

it’s an election year, and with this virus eating away at the worlds economy and oil prices at an all time low, this might be the worst time to even think about parting with funds for insignificant ventures. remember how patrick manning was reviled for giving the World Cup players a million each?

Patos did the right thing but should have done that for other sectors of society as well..

Rowley even if he had the money to allocate he wouldn’t bail them out, he’s a part of that old corrupt system.. he can throw words to make himself look like the greater person when in fact that’s to throw people off... when collusion is concerned you have certain people that will pretend to be against their friend to not let on they are complicit, it’s deception

The real test is when the economy rebounds and the dust settles, will the govt do the right thing, I doubt it, 6 decades and they haven’t

No way I as a citizen of TT will endorse throwing AWAY that can of money behind football at any time. And health care, job rate, crime/police/prison and a whole lot of ppl and issues require funding and in a mess. At all. The world we live in might be round but don’t mean we must kick ppl around for football. How many ppl on Ntl teams affected, Fifa could hall they European based mc. They can’t stop us from playing football no how, no where. The TTFA and Ntl football can be helped, yet there is greater more critical injuries that require attention. That will be so for awhile, a generation, maybe more. So if that is a criteria to measure corruption. Your measurements gon be way off for awhile. Best yuh dun with football and devote the rest of yuh life to making music for BTB. Definitely more successes there and more good for yuh ppl too .

Nov 2019 to Now. In 4 mths the newly Elected cause all this damage? Fifa couldn't see the damage before, even when it was pointed out to them. The man show them a nice gift wrapped cardboard box and he Boss call it the Center of the world of football. TT, with we litlle struggling football economy. We must really be chupidee. The government couldn't inspect, audit or get involved in anyway, but yet they gave, and still man bringing them up on charges. Do let dem FIFA conquistadors tie up yuh brain. The new bauble is seeing yuhself in the Media, and that's when yuh know yuh achieve and reach ? Really ? If that's the case, it means many don't even realize what's the true beauty of what our strengths and Culture was.

An attempt is being made to control us, and we arguing if we should give in. Rowley talked of management and mismanagement, maybe he already knew, but couldn't get involved, maybe he went on history, he couldn't see the future at that time. So how the controllers didn't see that history then. Of course they did, they helped make it. Now all of a sudden 4 mths later is an issue. If they don't do the right thing by us, let them rock so.

Meanwhile we TT (government and ppl) currently in Dire Straits, we done give them we money and we land, and them want to come and normalize that - Just reminded me of ' Money for Nothing; song

what if the government was to absolve this debt, would it be accepted by fifa or could it be perceived as government tampering? and if not, would fifa accept such an intervention and remove their measures on the TTFA?

I suggested this a while back but people said why should the govt bail them out... I’m like because it impacts the nation in a positive manner...

Now you will get pnm saying, oil is plummeting so we don’t have the money to help football but even when oil was high it’s the same excuse.. at least Wallace and Ramdhan was much more transparent than previous admins and could have been trusted to bail out football for the betterment of our society

It wouldn’t be considered tampering if they inject it into football directly and monitor payments with no direct control over it.. but then you have to ask yourself, Rowley was there when infantino visited and was neck and neck... I wouldn’t put it past them that the govt is also complicit as well and have sold out

listen mate I’m not going to get into the political ping pong with you but i certainly disagree with the notion that the the prime minister had any hand in this nonsense, especially when he called out infantino when he made his speech at the opening of the home of football, even I was embarrassed when rowley went on to say that fifa was a mafia and initially he was very skeptical about getting involved in the project, and he would reserve all judgement until later.

from my position, dr rowley is a straight shooter who speaks his mind and it showed when he had no reservations in telling the big boss infantino how he felt about fifa and was pulling no punches in that regard. as for the government paying this debt off, it’s not a pnm or unc thing, it all depends on if it’s legal and would it be supported by the tax payers themselves.

it’s an election year, and with this virus eating away at the worlds economy and oil prices at an all time low, this might be the worst time to even think about parting with funds for insignificant ventures. remember how patrick manning was reviled for giving the World Cup players a million each?

Patos did the right thing but should have done that for other sectors of society as well..

Rowley even if he had the money to allocate he wouldn’t bail them out, he’s a part of that old corrupt system.. he can throw words to make himself look like the greater person when in fact that’s to throw people off... when collusion is concerned you have certain people that will pretend to be against their friend to not let on they are complicit, it’s deception

The real test is when the economy rebounds and the dust settles, will the govt do the right thing, I doubt it, 6 decades and they haven’t

come on mate i'm not even going there with you. i only recently started going to trinidad for lengthy periods and i don't know much about the politicians and their conduct. as it stands i kind of get a anti pnm vibe from you and i not in that. had too many of that vibe as a boy with my grandparents and their politically adversarial neighbors.

and another thing, you seem to have good ideas but sometimes your delivery is very aggressive and far fetched. and to include dr rowley with DJW and gianni infantino is nonsensical and ludicrous mate. that man ain't got nothing to gain by involving himself with this horseshit.

if you hate the man on a personal level then fine, keith rowley means nothing to me that i have to defend his honor, but from the little i know of the man, i think you are way off in your judgement of him, and knowing human nature so well, i believe in my heart that this man is a no nonsense bloke who will not involve himself with these unscrupulous people. shame on you contro, you went too far now. just when i started respecting you, and there you go again with the lunacy.

what if the government was to absolve this debt, would it be accepted by fifa or could it be perceived as government tampering? and if not, would fifa accept such an intervention and remove their measures on the TTFA?

I suggested this a while back but people said why should the govt bail them out... I’m like because it impacts the nation in a positive manner...

Now you will get pnm saying, oil is plummeting so we don’t have the money to help football but even when oil was high it’s the same excuse.. at least Wallace and Ramdhan was much more transparent than previous admins and could have been trusted to bail out football for the betterment of our society

It wouldn’t be considered tampering if they inject it into football directly and monitor payments with no direct control over it.. but then you have to ask yourself, Rowley was there when infantino visited and was neck and neck... I wouldn’t put it past them that the govt is also complicit as well and have sold out

listen mate I’m not going to get into the political ping pong with you but i certainly disagree with the notion that the the prime minister had any hand in this nonsense, especially when he called out infantino when he made his speech at the opening of the home of football, even I was embarrassed when rowley went on to say that fifa was a mafia and initially he was very skeptical about getting involved in the project, and he would reserve all judgement until later.

from my position, dr rowley is a straight shooter who speaks his mind and it showed when he had no reservations in telling the big boss infantino how he felt about fifa and was pulling no punches in that regard. as for the government paying this debt off, it’s not a pnm or unc thing, it all depends on if it’s legal and would it be supported by the tax payers themselves.

it’s an election year, and with this virus eating away at the worlds economy and oil prices at an all time low, this might be the worst time to even think about parting with funds for insignificant ventures. remember how patrick manning was reviled for giving the World Cup players a million each?

Patos did the right thing but should have done that for other sectors of society as well..

Rowley even if he had the money to allocate he wouldn’t bail them out, he’s a part of that old corrupt system.. he can throw words to make himself look like the greater person when in fact that’s to throw people off... when collusion is concerned you have certain people that will pretend to be against their friend to not let on they are complicit, it’s deception

The real test is when the economy rebounds and the dust settles, will the govt do the right thing, I doubt it, 6 decades and they haven’t

that's nonsense. dr rowley took money from a lean treasury to finish the brian lara cricket academy, he also contribute whatever little he could IN THESE ECONOMICALLY LEAN TIMES to the cpl, and i believe if we were in a better position fiscally and had surplus budgets in the past few years, then i believe it would have been very possible, more so with him than any other prime minister.

and while we're on the subject of trinidad, when was the last time you went to trinidad? some people just stay in the diaspora and caste aspersions based on popular opinions.

Coming to think about it, if I was Wallace, I woulda walk away, f00ck FIFA and T&T football, too much to fix.

Jack Warner shot T&T down and David John Williams made sure we dead and then bury we.

Wallace and Keith, cut allyuh losses unless allyuh sure this could be fix in 4 years.

Ah was finally falling back in love with T&T football under Wallace, now this.

This is FIFA problem now, they feel they could fix it.

i feel you mate, but they've come too far to give up now. in all honesty this DJW bloke is the classic example as to why trinidad has such a high murder rate, it's people who behave like him who are more than likely the victims of murder.

this man had his turn, he wrecked the sport and got voted out, yet he made sure to it to bring down the new administration behind the scenes. if he lived in brazil, italy or columbia he would have been killed even before the election.

i also get the feeling that this is more the doing of mantagliani than infantino, i believe that this mantagliani bloke is in the pockets of the bigger federations in concacaf, and according to jack warner CFU should have never stood up and let this bastard get away with the new world cup format, but look at the past few CFU presidents, they were all fifa yes men under the proverbial table catching crumbs like max, and make no mistake about it, those guys ain't going in to bat for no federation under their care.

Instead of shooting for the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the T&T Football Association (TTFA) has opted to pass. The surprise decision comes four days after world football’s governing body, the FIFA failed to meet the TTFA’s 8:00 am deadline of Monday 23, March to respond to concerns about the normalization committee it announced will be is coming to run the day to day affairs of T&T football last Tuesday in place of the TTFA four elected officers which included President William Wallace and the Board of Directors.

The now-disbanded body is awaiting the FIFA’s next move before it acts, however, it does see Tyril Patrick’s rescindment of his role as the appointed supervisor of T&T football following a legal letter to him dated March 20, while the FIFA installs a normalization committee as a small victory.

Matthew G W Gayle, one of the TTFA’s lawyers working on the matter told Guardian Media Sports on Thursday, “In a sense, the letter (From FIFA) dated March 17 has no effect because it purports to appoint someone who has themselves said they are not interested, they’re stepping away and this has nothing to do with me anymore.”

However, while it may appear that the matter has stalled until either party moves the next piece in what is seemingly becoming a complexed game of chess, there is a 21-day timeline before the TTFA loses its right to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.

Gayle is adamant that it remains on the table. He added, “In as much as we have the right and are preserving our right to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport we are of the view that the letter, in and of itself, is redundant because of the correspondence from Mr. Patrick so it’s a situation where FIFA, clearly, there is no effect of their letter.”

With no correspondence from the FIFA since the TTFA sent its last letter dated Friday March 20 from attorney Dr. Emir Crowne to FIFA, the TTFA is hopeful the global body in charge of football will make a U-turn on its initial decision to announce a normalization committee.

Gayle said, “Quite clearly, as a matter of law, the TTFA was created by an act of Trinidad and Tobago parliament. It governs under the constitution which comes out of that act of parliament. No external body which includes FIFA has the right in the operation of the sovereign body that is the TTFA.”

Guardian Media Sports obtained a copy of the e-mail sent last Friday which said the TTFA’s lawyers were defending the interests of T&T football “against such rank corrupt, unjust, bullyboy tactics.”

It went further to demand that FIFA’s letter three days before being withdrawn.

<FIFA letter to the TTFA>

The March 17, letter from FIFA's secretary general Fatma Samoura to Ramesha Ramdhan, the general secretary of the TTFA in part reads:" Under these serious circumstances, and in accordance with article 8 paragraph 2 of the Fifa statutes (which foresees that executive bodies of member associations may, under exceptional circumstances, be removed from office by the Fifa Council in consultation with the relevant confederation and replaced by a normalisation committee for a specific period of time), the Bureau of the Council decided, on 17 March 2020, to appoint a normalisation committee for the TTFA.

Its mandate includes the following tasks:

to run the TTFA’s daily affairs;

to establish a debt repayment plan that is implementable by the TTFA;

to review and amend the TTFA Statutes (and other regulations where necessary) and to ensure their compliance with the FIFA Statutes and requirements before duly submitting them for approval to the TTFA Congress;

to organise and to conduct elections of a new TTFA Executive Committee for a four-year mandate.

The normalisation committee will be composed of an adequate number of members to be appointed by the Fifa administration, in consultation with Concacaf. Although those eventually appointed for the normalisation committee will assume their duties with immediate effect, all members of the normalisation committee will have to pass an eligibility check to be carried out by the Fifa Review Committee in accordance with the Fifa Governance Regulations.

The confirmation of the appointment will be contingent upon the outcome of the eligibility check.

Furthermore, the Fifa administration, in consultation with Concacaf, reserves the right to revoke the mandate of any of the members of the normalisation committee and/or to appoint further members at any time.

The normalisation committee will act as an electoral committee whose decisions are final and binding, and none of its members will be eligible for any of the open positions in the TTFA elections under any circumstances, including in the event that their mandate as a member of the normalisation committee has been revoked or that they resign from their position.

The specified period of time during which the normalisation committee will perform its functions will expire as soon as it has fulfilled all of its assigned tasks, but no later than 24 months after its members have been officially appointed by the FIFA administration. The exact date for the normalisation committee to complete its mandate will be communicated by the Fifa administration once its members have been appointed.

In the interim and before the normalisation committee is fully operational, the TTFA administration’s management will be supervised by Mr Tyril Patrick, who will directly report to Fifa. The TTFA administration—in its entirety—will therefore report to Mr Patrick until the normalisation committee has been put in place.

Finally, a forensic audit of the TTFA accounts could be commissioned if deemed necessary by the relevant parties. We thank you for taking note of the above and trust in your full cooperation in this matter."

RELATED NEWS

TTFA lawyers give FIFA more time.By Joel Bailey (Newsday).

THE lawyers for former TTFA (TT Football Association) president William Wallace – Dr Emir Crowne and Matthew Gayle – are giving FIFA, the world’s governing body for football, more time to withdraw their letter to the former TTFA executive, in which they stated their desire to implement a normalisation committee.

TTFA general secretary Ramesh Ramdhan said on Tuesday, “They (lawyers) are giving FIFA some more time to withdraw the letter. But they advised that we have 21 days to file an appeal to CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport).”

Asked how much time FIFA has been given, Ramdhan replied, “certainly within the 21 days.”

Last week, Wallace, through his attorneys, threatened FIFA general secretary Fatma Samoura with formal legal proceedings.

The attorneys described the committee as “attempted unlawful interference in the operation of the sovereign body”. FIFA was given until 8 am on Monday to respond.

Dr Crowne and Gayle also issued a pre-action protocol letter to TTFA finance manager Tyril Patrick, who was named by FIFA to head the local governing body, until the normalisation committee was implemented.

However, Patrick, on Saturday, decided against taking up the offer, leaving the TTFA without a head.

« Last Edit: March 27, 2020, 06:02:54 AM by Flex »

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The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Composition of normalisation committee for Trinidad and Tobago confirmedFIFA.com

Following the decision taken by the Bureau of the FIFA Council to appoint a normalisation committee for the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) and the subsequent consultation process undertaken by FIFA and Concacaf, the composition of this committee can now be confirmed as follows:

Mr. Robert Hadad (Chairperson);Ms. Judy Daniel (Deputy Chairperson);Mr. Nigel. L Romano (member).The FIFA administration, in consultation with Concacaf, will appoint two more members in the coming days.

The mandate of the normalisation committee will include the following:

to run the TTFA'S daily affairs;to establish a debt repayment plan that is implementable by the TTFA;to review and amend the TTFA Statutes (and other regulations where necessary) and to ensure their compliance with the FIFA Statutes and requirements before duly submitting them for approval to the TTFA Congress;to organise and to conduct elections of a new TTFA Executive Committee for a four-year mandate.

The members of the TTFA normalisation committee will assume their duties with immediate effect and, as per standard procedure, will have to pass an eligibility check. Their confirmation will be contingent upon the outcome of the eligibility check.

The normalisation committee will act as an electoral committee, and none of its members will be eligible for any of the open positions in the TTFA elections under any circumstances. The specified period of time during which the normalisation committee will perform its functions will expire as soon as it has fulfilled all of its assigned tasks, but no later than 24 months after its members have been officially appointed by FIFA.

FIFA has appointed businessman Robert Hadad to head a three-member Normalisation Committee to oversee the revitalisation of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association, following its decision to take over the reorganisation of the local body from William Wallace and his executive recently.

A release from FIFA on Friday confirmed the appointments, adding that FIFA, in consultation with regional governing body CONCACAF, will make two more appointments to the team soon.

FIFA said the committee will have as its mandate the following:

Run the TTFA'S daily affairs

Establish a debt repayment plan that is implementable by the TTFA

Review and amend the TTFA statutes (and other regulations where necessary) and to ensure their compliance with the FIFA statutes and requirements before duly submitting them for approval to the TTFA Congress

Organise and conduct elections of a new TTFA Executive Committee for a four-year mandate.

FIFA added that the committee members will still have to pass an eligibility check and their confirmation to the positions will be contingent upon the outcome of those checks.

It said the normalisation committee will act as an electoral committee and none of its members will be eligible for any of the open positions once fresh TTFA elections are called.

The committee has 24 months in which to achieve its mandate and will cease to function once this has been achieved.

Wallace and his executive were voted into office late last year but soon fell into financial difficulty after its accounts were frozen as one of its former coaches, Kendall Walkes, sued to recover salaries owed to him. This prompted FIFA to step in recently, disband the executive and start a restructuring process.

RELATED NEWS

Hadad leads TTFA normalisation committeeStephon Nicholas (Newsday).

Businessman Robert Hadad has been appointed chairperson of the FIFA normalisation committee that will take over control of local football. FIFA also appointed Judy Daniel (deputy chairperson) and Nigel L Romano (member) to the committee. FIFA made the announcement via e-mail on Friday and said it will appoint two more members in the coming days.

The FIFA press release said the mandate of the normalisation committee includes: to run the TTFA's daily affairs; to establish a debt repayment plan that is implementable by the TTFA; to review and amend the TTFA statutes (and other regulations where necessary) and to ensure their compliance with the FIFA statutes and requirements before duly submitting them for approval to the TTFA Congress; to organise and to conduct elections of a new TTFA Executive Committee for a four-year mandate.

The normalisation committee has 24 months maximum to fulfil its duties. No member of the normalisation committee will be permitted to vie for a post in the next TTFA elections.

The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) should be suspended with immediate effect, says veteran football administrator Adrian Donovan.

FIFA in the last couple of days has instituted a normalisation committee to oversee the TTFA footballing affairs for the next 24 months.

Donovan has thrown his support behind the decision of the FIFA/Concacaf mission that recently visited the shores of Trinidad and Tobago to examine the books and operations of the TTFA.

Donovan noted that the mission’s findings included a lack of financial management and a financial governance which they said was non-existent, with no formal internal policies andinternal controls in place.

“I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever,” said the veteran football administrator who has been involved with football for over 35 years, “that the TTFA will be suspended.”This would mean they will receive no funding and will have to undergo a forensic audit.

If or when they are suspended, they will join a list that includes Guinea, Antigua and Barbuda, Guatemala, Macau, Kenya, and more recently the oversight of St. Vincent and Guyana.

According to the media reports coming out of Trinidad and Tobago, the TTFA is in debt to a tune of TT$50 000 000 which has been accumulated over a period of time, and with no formal and proper plan in place to reduce this deficit, FIFA has stepped in.

This comes just after the TTFA unveiled a grand plan for the development for the Arima Velodrome Stadium, which is expected to cost in the region of US$47 million. This project was to help reduce the large deficit.

However, there is no cabinet approval as regards the land and the Arima borough has not signed off on the project.

This controversial home of football, Arima Stadium, which was perceived to be the saviour in the reduction of this outstanding debt, is part funded by FIFA and the equipment that was purchased came from the FIFA Forward Project.

The TTFA has also been accused of not paying NIS for its staff for a number of years, and just a couple days ago an investigation was ordered by the police commissioner of T&T Police Service into the disappearance of equipment valued at approximately TT$120 400.

Donovan stated, “In all of this FIFA is absolutely correct if they have to suspend this national federation because all those who signed off on the FIFA Statutes are expected to follow their rules and regulations.

“The particular statute which FIFA has invoked simply states that in accordance with Article 8 paragraph 2 of the FIFA Statutes, …executive bodies of member associations may under exceptional circumstances be removed from office by the FIFA council, in consultation with the relevant Federation, and replaced by a normalisation committee for specific period of time.”

Since this particular statute was invoked, two former FIFA employees have come out to address the ongoing matter, one being Austin Jack Warner, who stated in a recent interview that the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) was non-existent. A couple days ago his fellow Trinidadian, Keith Look Loy, came to the defence of the present TTFA board.

Under Warner, who headed the CFU for over two decades, a number of the Federation leaders were banned in the Bin Hammam corruption scandal.

Donovan said that the Keith Look Loy is unjustified in his unfounded statement that the CFU is not representing their case against FIFA.

“This matter has gone past CFU and into the courts of law, and therefore CFU and any other regional Federations simply have no say in the matter.

“It would be wise for the present TTFA board to withdraw their case that is headed to the court of arbitration because if not they will feel the wrath of the FIFA.”

Donovan added, “When you sign under FIFA rules and regulation and you have no legitimate evidence as to how you have spent their money, it is only a matter of time before the weight of FIFA would be felt.”

‘Fifa has been compromised [in Home of Football scandal]!’ Spicy letter that predates Fifa take-over.By Lasana Liburd (Wired868).

“A cursory glance of the paper trail suggests that there was a lack of proper oversight [on the Home of Football],” stated Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) general secretary Ramesh Ramdhan, in a letter to Fifa chief member association, Veron Mosengo-Omba on 22 January 2020.

“The president of the TTFA [David John-Williams] appears to have been the project manager, the contractor as well as the purchaser…”

The aforementioned excerpt forms part of an exchange between Ramdhan and Mosengo-Omba. It was issued in response to a letter from the Fifa official, while Fifa stalled on paying its annual subvention of US$1.2 million (TT$8 million) to the TTFA for operations.

It also predated the world governing body’s decision to send a joint fact-finding mission of Concacaf and Fifa officials to the island in February.

On Tuesday, Fifa, supposedly on the advice of the team that visited Trinidad last month, announced it would send a normalisation committee to the twin island republic and effectively nullified last November’s election and booted the Board—including president William Wallace—out of office.

Mosengo-Omba, a DR Congo national, personally informed controversial TTFA finance manager Tyril Patrick that Fifa had just put him in charge of local football.

“As was mentioned in the decision [by the Fifa Council], you will assume immediate interim responsibility, in collaboration with Fifa,” he told Patrick, “for all TTFA matters until the normalisation committee members are appointed.

“Thank you in advance for your cooperation in this respect and looking forward to meeting you soon.”

Two months before Fifa sent the TTFA into meltdown, Mosengo-Omba, who had direct oversight of the Home of Football project—partly funded by Fifa—wrote Ramdhan to enquire about the William Wallace-led administration’s plans to deal with its significant debts.

“In light of the significant amount of outstanding debts the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) has had in the past with third party suppliers,” Mosengo-Omba told Ramdhan, on 13 January, “the FIFA administration would like to follow up on the current status of those debts. It is important to highlight that assets financed by the FIFA Forward Programme cannot be, under any circumstances, mortgaged.

“The FIFA Member Associations Division is fully committed and available to support your member association in every necessary aspect in order to achieve positive outcome.”

In the build-up to last November’s local football election, Mosengo-Omba allegedly told three board members—according to one member of that trio, who spoke on condition of anonymity—that Fifa would not support the TTFA if then president David John-Williams was voted out of office.

Another board member and technical committee chairman Keith Look Loy, who was an influential figure in Wallace’s successful campaign, also complained that the Congolese repeatedly ignored pleas to investigate alleged financial mismanagement of the project.

And, in Ramdhan’s response to the Fifa official, he made his feelings clear that the world governing body—and Mosengo-Omba in particular—lacked the moral authority to lecture the TTFA on the matter of debts or the fate of the Home of Football.

“The HOF project which is at the centre of this conversation was intended to bring an end to our financial woes, which had plagued the TTFA for over a decade,” stated Ramdhan. “It is now ironic that, in 2020, it has become the source of our financial distress.

“[…] I knew you were a central figure during the construction phase of this project. I can also appreciate that the responsibility entrusted upon you in facilitating the process may have fallen outside the core area of competency required for such a project.

“It is now incumbent upon Fifa, given this experience, to review the processes employed in their Forward Project programs in order to avoid reoccurrence of this nature which can compromise Fifa. I am of the view that Fifa has indeed been compromised in this scenario.”

Having identified the high-ranking Fifa official as ‘a central figure’ operating ‘outside [his] core area of competency’ in what could prove to be a financial scandal, Ramdhan went further by suggesting that the TTFA intended to not only investigate the Home of Football but also make their findings public.

“Based on what we have discovered during the recent visit of the [Fifa] development manager (DM) and the assistant development manager (ADM) in the presence of the TTFA financial manager,” stated Ramdhan, “the manner in which the project was being managed should have raised red flags.

“Given the revelations, it is curious and even suspicious that the project continued uninterrupted. This has attracted speculation from several quarters of the society which has the potential of further damaging our already tainted image both locally and abroad.

“[…] The current administration is in the process of engaging a quantity surveyor with a view to achieving two objectives. The first objective is to produce a professional report and make public the findings, so as to avoid speculation of vindictiveness on the part of the current administration.

“The second objective, which is of paramount importance, is to address all the issues with a view to resolving them and operationalise the building.”

A day later, on 23 January, Ramdhan wrote Mosengo-Omba again; and, this time, he addressed the initial query of the Fifa official.

“Consequent to my previous letter of 22 January, I wish to further advise that Fifa Forward funding will not be used to satisfy any third party debts,” stated the TTFA general secretary. “It is our stated objective to use funds intended for development in those specific areas. We intend to avoid the pitfalls of the past where moneys were used contrary to purpose.

“The current administration has a plan to deal with the debts inherited and we intend to meet and discuss this with our creditors… We have already signed a memorandum of understanding with a foreign company for a project in Trinidad that would factor in a debt of TT$50 million incorporated in the overall cost of the project to satisfy the debt.

“[…] I do hope that this information will serve to address any concerns which Fifa may have and bring some level of comfort as I can discern some unease about our debt situation.

“Rest assured we are up to the task of rebuilding our administration and restoring our image and look forward to cooperating with Fifa to achieve our collective objectives.”

Mosengo-Omba did not respond to either email.

Ramdhan said he was justified in the statements made to the Fifa official, since he was only replying to Mosengo-Omba’s letter and also fulfilling Wallace’s campaign promise of transparent governance.

“We had to [investigate the Home of Football and make our findings public] because we campaigned on being open and transparent,” said Ramdhan, who was a part of Wallace’s United TTFA slate, “especially as I wrote to Fifa before [in 2019] and they never took me on. And what we discovered was frightening to say the least…”

By then, Wallace’s administration had been in office for roughly two months and not received any of the Fifa subvention that was due. A cursory check, according to Ramdhan, revealed that other associations had already been wired money from the global body’s Zurich headquarters.

After a couple of enquiring phone calls, Ramdhan said he was put on to Stacey Daniel, who is a manager in the Fifa Finance Department.

“She told me we would get it [by the end of January] but we didn’t,” Ramdhan told Wired688. “So I asked who was above her that could explain what was going on. And that was when I was put back on to Veron.”

It took three days for Wallace to get Mosengo-Omba on the phone and, then, his response was supposedly that Fifa would send a team to Trinidad to investigate its finances; and they would ask Concacaf to fund the TTFA until that was completed.

Ramdhan was frustrated.

“Fifa should have investigated what I sent to them [about John-Williams and the Home of Football],” he said, “not our administration.”

The TTFA is due US$150,000 (TT$1 million) annually from Concacaf for football development. Based on money from Concacaf, the local football body was able to send the Women’s National Under-20 Team on a two week pre-tournament tour in the Dominican Republic.

The team, coached by Richard Hood, went on to finish as quarterfinalists at the Women’s Concacaf Under-20 Championship.

If the new TTFA administration had any information regarding spending at the Home of Football that Mosengo-Omba might have missed, the joint-Fifa and Concacaf team would surely have been apprised of it.

Wallace, Ramdhan and Tull felt the meetings went well and the foreign contingent allegedly vowed that Fifa would turn on its financial tap shortly. But that never happened.

In the interim, Wallace held a press conference on 4 March, in which he pointed to the financial mismanagement of the association by John-Williams, aided by his finance manager, Patrick—who was still a TTFA employee.

Tull, according to a source, advised against the press conference and, in particular, the revelations concerning over TT$4 million due for PAYE, BIR and health surcharge payments.

Again, Ramdhan said Wallace’s decision to speak up was in keeping with their mantra of ‘transparency’.

On 7 March, the TTFA board met and passed a motion to investigate the perceived financial mismanagement of the John-Williams-led administration. The probe would have included spending on the Home of Football project, which was supervised by Mosengo-Omba.

The first order of business was to be the suspension of Patrick, who, members felt, could not operate as finance manager while being investigated.

Wallace was asked to get a legal letter to that effect, which would be issued to Patrick. However, the president stalled as he wanted to get a replacement for his finance officer first. And, even then, Wallace felt Patrick should be given time to ‘hand over responsibilities’ to his successor.

Ten days after that meeting, with Patrick still in place and no replacement identified, Fifa took the atomic option of firing the entire TTFA board under article 8.2 of its statutes, which states:

‘Executive bodies of member associations may under exceptional circumstances be removed from office by the Council in consultation with the relevant confederation and replaced by a normalisation committee for a specific period of time.’

Fifa, in a missive on its website, stated that its decision: ‘follows the recent FIFA/Concacaf fact-finding mission to Trinidad and Tobago to assess, together with an independent auditor, the financial situation of TTFA [which] found that extremely low overall financial management methods, combined with a massive debt, have resulted in the TTFA facing a very real risk of insolvency and illiquidity. Such a situation is putting at risk the organisation and development of football in the country and corrective measures need to be applied urgently.’

Ramdhan believed that Fifa was always going to be hostile to the current TTFA administration, whether he crossed swords with Mosengo-Omba or not.

“I think they were always looking to do this,” he said. “And even when I wrote those letters, they didn’t even have the courtesy to reply to me or the TTFA. So I don’t think those letters played a part in this.”

Mosengo-Omba might be having the last laugh now. However, the TTFA has announced its intention to appeal Fifa’s decision, through attorneys Dr Emir Crowne and Matthew Gayle of New City Chambers.

If the allegations made in Ramdhan’s letter to Mosengo-Omba bare any truth, the TTFA’s promised investigation could have had dire implications for Fifa’s image under current president Gianni Infantino.

Ironically, if there is financial misconduct at the Home of Football—Look Loy suggested last year that TT$16 million unaccounted for from the project—then there is only one man with as much to lose as as John-Williams and Mosengo-Omba.

And that is Patrick, the person who Fifa has now put in charge of the TTFA.

(Letter from Fifa to TTFA on 13 January 2020)

Dear General Secretary,

In light of the significant amount of outstanding debts the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) has had in the past with third party suppliers, the FIFA administration would like to follow up on the current status of those debts.

It is important to highlight that assets financed by the FIFA Forward Programme cannot be, under any circumstances, mortgaged.

The FIFA Member Associations Division is fully committed and available to support your Member Association in every necessary aspect in order to achieve positive outcome.

Yours sincerely

Veron Mosengo-Omba,

Chief Member Associations Officer

(Letter for TTFA to Fifa on 22 January 2020)

Dear Mr Mosengo-Omba,

I thank you for your email of Monday 13 January. Your advice regarding the Home of Football (HOF) is duly noted. The new administration is fully aware of all the implications involved as we pursue the solutions to the problems we inherited. The significant debt you mentioned pose serious challenges for the TTFA and your offer to assist gives us hope.

During the visit of the Development Manager (DM) last week, as we perused the financial records of the TTFA, we discovered that funds intended for other areas were diverted to the HOF project resulting in the failure of the TTFA to meet its day to day financial obligations. Chief amongst them was the inability to pay the salaries of staff for the Christmas.

Presently, the outstanding balance owed in relation to the HOF to date is approximately TT$2 million. The amount of confirmed debt is TT$33,782,826.31, other payables are TT$15,211,861.50. Attached for your information and yet to be determined [is] TT$25 million, which represents two batters which are before the courts re: Jack Warner and Sheldon Phillips. These figures can change dramatically based on the current trend.

The HOF project which is at the centre of this conversation was intended to bring an end to our financial woes, which had plagued the TTFA for over a decade. It is now ironic that, in 2020, it has become the source of our financial distress.

A project which was opened with a lot of fanfare is now faced with issues which required additional funding to resolve. These issues vary from design and construction to safety and lack of the requisite approvals from agencies. This situation denies the TTFA the opportunity to benefit from such a significant investment.

I knew you were a central figure during the construction phase of this project. I can also appreciate that the responsibility entrusted upon you in facilitating the process may have fallen outside the core area of competency required for such a project.

It is now incumbent upon Fifa, given this experience, to review the processes employed in their Forward Project programs in order to avoid reoccurrence of this nature which can compromise Fifa. I am of the view that Fifa has indeed been compromised in this scenario.

Having said that, based on what we have discovered during the recent visit of the Development Manager (DM) and the Assistant Development Manager (ADM) in the presence of the TTFA Financial Manager, the manner in which the project was being managed should have raised red flags.

Given the revelations, it is curious and even suspicious that the project continued uninterrupted. This has attracted speculation from several quarters of the society which has the potential of further damaging our already tainted image both locally and abroad.

A cursory glance of the paper trail suggests that there was a lack of proper oversight. The president of the TTFA appears to have been the project manager, the contractor as well as the purchaser.

The current administration is in the process of engaging a quantity surveyor with a view to achieving two objectives. The first objective is to produce a professional report and make public the findings so as to avoid speculation of vindictiveness on the part of the current administration.

The second objective, which is of paramount importance, is to address all the issues with a view to resolving them and operationalise the building.

As we peruse the financial records of the TTFA, our preliminary findings suggest a lack of financial prudence on the part of the last administration. As a consequence, we have taken a decision to engage a forensic auditor to determine if any financial impropriety occurred as we are not prepared to carry that burden forward as we seek to reshape the association.

Yours sincerely,

Ramesh Ramdhan,

TTFA general secretary

(Letter from TTFA to Fifa on 23 January 2020)

Consequent to my previous letter of 22 January, I wish to further advise that Fifa Forward funding will not be used to satisfy any third party debts. It is our stated objective to use funds intended for development in those specific areas. We intend to avoid the pitfalls of the past where moneys were used contrary to purpose.

The current administration has a plan to deal with the debts inherited and we intend to meet and discuss this with our creditors. It is our intention to acknowledge the debts and, if necessary, give letters of comfort to avoid the courts of Trinidad and Tobago.

We have already signed a memorandum of understanding with a foreign company for a project in Trinidad that would factor in a debt of TT$50 million incorporated in the overall cost of the project to satisfy the debt. Officials of the said company will be visiting Trinidad in a couple weeks to discuss the public private partnership with the government of Trinidad and Tobago.

I do hope that this information will serve to address any concerns which Fifa may have and bring some level of comfort as I can discern some unease about our debt situation.

Rest assured we are up to the task of rebuilding our administration and restoring our image and look forward to cooperating with Fifa to achieve our collective objectives.

Yours sincerely,

Ramesh Ramdhan,

TTFA general secretary

Editor’s Note: Wired868 asked Fifa official Veron Mosengo-Omba a series of questions related to the announced normalisation committee and the Home of Football, including whether he noticed any financial irregularities in the project, why he had not recused himself from issues involving the TTFA due to a potential conflict of interest, and why Fifa decided to put TTFA’s finance manager in charge despite basing its decision to intervene on the football body’s supposedly catastrophic financial set-up.

He had not responded up to the time of publication.

Logged

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Hardly anyone batted an eyebrow when Fifa announced that a “normalisation committee” had been set up in Trinidad & Tobago. But the key question is: Could this be nothing but an act of revenge from Gianni Infantino?

In football governance, the procedure known as ‘normalisation’ usually follows a well-travelled route: a local FA encounters critical financial, political or governance problems, contravening its own statutes in the process, as well as those of Fifa’s, which then has no choice other than to suspend the administration in place and take over the running of its affairs.

It is a depressingly common occurrence, which has affected countries as diverse as Uruguay, Benin, Kuwait, Argentina, Mali, Greece and many others in the recent past. So depressingly common, in fact, that hardly anyone batted an eyelid when Fifa, following a ‘fact-finding mission’ which had taken place in February, added Trinidad & Tobago to the list of MAs (Member Associations) under ‘normalisation’ on 17 March of this year. Trinidad & Tobago, the former playground of disgraced Fifa panjandrum Jack Warner…not exactly a surprise, is it?

Normalisation or elimination?Except that this was a normalisation with a difference. The TTFA (Trinidad & Tobago Football Association) Board which had been summarily dismissed by Fifa had only been in place since November 2019. It had been elected – fairly, as everyone agreed – by representatives of T&T’s forty-six grassroots football associations on the strength of a programme of reform and renewal, had conducted audits of its shambolic finances, addressed the issue of debt head-on and fully cooperated with Fifa throughout, including during the ‘fact-finding mission’ which ultimately led to the verdict of ‘normalisation’. It made no real sense to dismiss a new administration which was in no way associated with the excesses and mismanagement of previous TTFA regimes, and, indeed, seemed to be doing what it could to correct the errors of the past.

It made no real sense – unless you looked at the rationale of Fifa’s drastic decision from a different angle, a purely political one that is. Listening to the central characters on the TTFA side of the story, as we have, and looking at the chain of events more closely, as we did, following the work done by Wired888 journalist Lasana Liburd in situ, it soon became clear that it was legitimate to change the main question from: ‘what went wrong in Trinidad & Tobago which prompted the normalisation?’ to ‘could this really be nothing but an act of revenge from Gianni Infantino?’

A sense of perspective is needed to understand why this question must be asked, and some recent history too, of how Infantino, then a candidate to the Fifa presidency, had found a key ally in the Caribbean nation, only to lose him a few months ago.

This ally is David John-Williams, until then the vice-president of the Trinidad & Tobago Pro league, who had been elected president of his country’s Football Association (TTFA) in controversial circumstances (a number of the delegates who voted for him appear to have been ineligible) on 30 November 2015, little over a month after Gianni Infantino had become the fifth and last man to announce his bid the for the presidency of Fifa.

The former was soon to play an important part in the latter’s campaign, drumming up support for the UEFA Secretary General in the Caribbean region, a part of the world whose influence in football politics far outweighs its population, as no fewer than 25 of Fifa’s 211 member associations hail from there. John-Williams’s successful lobbying was instrumental in securing Infantino’s election: a mere 27 votes separated the victor from the pre-election favourite Sheik Salman bin Ibrahim al Khalifa when Fifa made its choice on 26 February 2016 in Zürich.

“Teammates”Gianni Infantino didn’t forget his due. Visiting Trinidad and Tobago for the lavish inauguration of the Fifa-funded ‘Home of Football’ complex in Couva, the Fifa president extolled the qualities of his ally in terms which left no one in any doubt of whom he, Infantino, would like to remain at the helm of the TTFA.

“I came to Trinidad and Tobago, and I was not believing to find somebody like [David John-Williams] in Trinidad and Tobago,” he said. “I have to say the truth. Because the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association was more or less in the same state as Fifa at that time. David was saying ‘shambles’, I say shambles was maybe a compliment for the state you found.

“We found a Federation which was under the earth. TTFA, Trinidad and Tobago Football, very sadly, was in the headlines for other reasons than football, even though linked to football. Today, we are here, and proud to be here, because today, Trinidad and Tobago is the capital of the world of football.”

This was on 18 November 2019, a mere six days before the TTFA was to vote in its presidential elections. John-Williams had campaigned for Infantino. Infantino was now campaigning for John-Williams, seemingly oblivious to the fact that this constituted the kind of direct interference on which Fifa tends to cast a stern eye in most circumstances.

But even the Fifa president’s fulsome endorsement did not prevent the TTFA associations to put an end to John-Williams’s four-year reign on 24 November. The incumbent had been beaten by a newcomer, William Wallace, a man well-known for his involvement in cricket administration in the region, by 26 votes to 20 in the second round of the election. Gianni Infantino had lost a ‘team-mate’, to use a word he’d used himself at the inauguration.

He did not forget this; and some say he didn’t forgive either, and that this is the true reason why the TTFA finds itself ‘normalised’ today. One of these voices is that of Keith Look Loy, Chairman of the Trinidad & Tobago FA’s Technical Committee and President of the TT Super League, who granted Josimar the exclusive interview which follows.

Keith Look Loy, which reason or reasons did Fifa give you to explain its decision to suspend an administration that had only been in place for less than four months?“Well, first of all, when the election was held on 24 November, the new President, Mr Wallace, and his three vice-presidents, had never held office at the TTFA before. I was an ally of that group of officers, and the agenda was clear. We recognised there was a serious issue with financial mismanagement, and even misuse or abuse of funds, that the essential structure of the TTFA had basically collapsed and that, on the technical side, the programmes had totally collapsed as well. We went in there, looking to, firstly, establish exactly the situation of the finances, and, secondly, begin the restructuring of the association. Now, before that, the struggle to remove the previous administration went on for more of its term in office, at least three years out of four. Over the course of time, I and other members of the board repeatedly criticised the mismanagement of the TTFA in general and, in particular, of the Fifa-financed ‘Home of Football’

Were you in touch with Fifa at the time?“Yes. Information and even, I dare say, revelations were passed on to the Director of Development for Africa and the Caribbean, Mr Véron Mosengo-Omba (one of Gianni Infantino’s closest friends and aides within Fifa), who visited Trinidad periodically to oversee the progress of the ‘Home of Football’ project, always saying what a wonderful job was being done. We repeatedly made our concerns known to him, and his stock answer was “this is not Fifa business, this is an internal matter for the TTFA and Fifa has nothing to do with it”. As far as Fifa was concerned, everything was fine”.

How much money are we talking about?“$2,5m. A lot of money. About 18 or 19 million T&T dollars, depending on the currency rate of the day.”

What happened to this money?“It wasn’t spent properly, it wasn’t accounted for. I, as a board member, fought a running battle with the president David John-Williams and his supporters on the board to get access to the financial reports. I eventually had to go to the High Court of Trinidad & Tobago. It took me several months, but I eventually got a court order requiring them to open up the books and to let me have a look, provide contracts for work being done at the Home of Football. What I discovered was that of all that money, 18 or 19 million, they could only provide contracts for 3 and a half million. And when I asked what happened to the rest of the sum, they told me the work had been paid on a cash basis. People were paid in cash! I told them this was the modus operandi of a criminal enterprise, not of a national association in any sport. This was last year, in 2019.”

Then you were elected. What did you do then?“We discovered there was a lot more that was…what shall I say…unsatisfactory and even criminal under the law of Trinidad & Tobago, for example the repeated writing of cheques against accounts which had no money in then. The banks would just return them. We found that statutory payments for employees – PAYE deductions and national insurance contributions – were taken out of employees’ salaries and not paid to the authorities, which is a crime under our law.

I’m telling you all of this because, one, Fifa was directly involved in this because of its financing of the Home of Football project, and concerns had been raised with them before the advent of the new administration, over the course of two years, with no satisfactory response from Fifa; and, beyond that, the TTFA, like every other member of Fifa is subjected to an annual audit by Fifa in terms of broader financing. Fifa knew about this mismanagement, they had to. Fifa knew about the lack of correct financial procedure. Now, here is the sharp point of my arrow: the Fifa president Gianni Infantino came to Trinidad and Tobago six days before the election to inaugurate the Home of Football in a great display of pageantry, and he literally encouraged to vote for the existing administration back into office.

But the electorate rejected him, as it rejected the president of CONCACAF, Mr Montigliani, who’d said the same thing. Up to that point, Fifa was prepared to continue working with the TTFA. I believe that what has happened is an effort on the part of Fifa to cover up the activity of the last administration and to cover up its own complicity in what transpired, because they knew about it. Therefore, what they’re seeking to do is to set aside a legitimately-elected administration barely three and a half months in office, that bears no responsibility for the mess that was left behind. We are victimised for that. It’s a cover-up.”

Mr John-Williams was a close ally of Gianni Infantino during his campaign to become Fifa president in 2016…“That is correct.”

…and he rallied support for Mr Infantino in the region. In your view, could it be the reason why Fifa, after turning a blind eye to what was happening within the TTFA, then decided to act?“All of this is true. John-Williams was the first Caribbean FA President to come out openly in support of Mr Infantino when Mr Infantino was campaigning for his first term of office, They have remained fast friends. When Infantino came to open the Home of Football, a ceremony which was attended by the Prime Minister of T&T, the Minister of sports and other government dignitaries, he was on the record as saying “when you are in a team, you support your team-mates”. Which meant John-Williams, who was doing such a great job, blah-blah-blah. And that’s completely against the statutes of Fifa. They were allies, supporting each other.”

You’re basically saying that, had Mr John-Williams remained in office, none of this would have happened.“This is exactly what I’m saying. Fifa would have continued to turn a blind eye to all of this nonsense which had been transpiring for four years. “

One thing which is very difficult to comprehend from the outside is why, after the new administration had been voted in and started cooperating with Fifa, suddenly, almost out of nowhere, the TTFA got a normalisation order. How did they justify that to you?“They’re saying that they want to review our statutes. There have been some amendments to them; but the TTFA statutes were basically introduced into the TTFA by Fifa themselves in 2015! They supervised the revision of our statutes and they supervised the election of John-Williams himself! So they introduced the statutes which they now say there is a problem with. Their other argument is that the TTFA doesn’t have any financial structure, and there is the issue of debt.

It is a fact that the TTFA had operated in the four previous years, and a long time before that, without established financial controls, without accountability. When we came in, we established a finance committee run by two persons who have excellent reputations of integrity beyond reproach in this country. They examined what was there and produced a document, a report which outlined what the problem was and how we should proceed. We began by staging a seminar on the State of Play and creating a module of financial literacy for the members of the Board, so that they could understand how we would proceed.”

Did you inform Fifa of these measures?“That document, which also detailed our plan to address debt relief, was given to a joint Fifa-CONCACAF delegation which arrived in Trinidad & Tobago on 25 February of this year. We held meetings with them on the 26th and the 27th, after which they left.”

But that was not good enough for them.“It wasn’t. And they never gave us a copy of their delegation’s report.”

Then the normalisation order was produced on the heels of this visit.“Yes. And this is how we found out that they had decided to impose a normalisation committee on the TTFA. The General Secretary of a Caribbean FA called me and said, “Keith, do you know about this?” By which he meant the normalisation order. I was astonished. I knew nothing of it.”

You mean that you, a TTFA Board Member, were not informed directly of the decision and had to go on the Fifa website to get confirmation?“That is correct. That is a fact. And when we found out, our Secretary General wrote to Fifa, asking them for clarification and verification of this; and they wrote back to say, yes, apologising for having sent – or so they claim – the official notification to the wrong email address. After dealing with us for three months, they sent it to the wrong email address!”

Which steps did you take after receiving confirmation of the Fifa decision?“We got our lawyers onto this. Now listen to this. The letter announcing the imposition of a normalisation committee came from Fifa’s Secretary General Fatma Samoura. But Véron himself wrote a letter to Tyril Patrick, the Finance Manager of the TTFA, appointing him caretaker manager of TTFA. Now this Finance Manager had been John-Williams’s right-hand man, complicit with the previous administration, whom we’d kept on because we needed to find out what was the situation in the finances, which none of us knew, to shine some light on this. And Véron chose him.”

How did you respond to this?“We told this Finance Manager we’d file an injunction if he accepted the appointment, which he had, before backing off and writing to Fifa to tell them he wasn’t interested. As to now, because of COVID-19, nobody can enter Trinidad & Tobago, Fifa cannot send anyone and, to this day, they haven’t appointed anyone, any committee. So it’s a vacuum. Our position is clear: for us, Fifa does not have the authority under Trinidad & Tobago law to intervene in the internal politics of the TTFA. It is risky. Because there is law, and there is power. There is a rumour circulating that there is a list of people Fifa intend to ban – and I’m on it, I’m of them for sure – but that is just speculation. As of now, there has been no response whatsoever from Fifa.”

Are you prepared to go to CAS to contest Fifa’s decision?“We’ve informed Fifa of this already, and this is exactly where we’re going. They have not responded to this either.”

Have other Caribbean FAs come out in support of you?“First, internally, the local associations which compose the TTFA itself have showed very strong public support for the officers who have been removed by Fifa. Externally, CONCACAF has had nothing to say. We have reached out to the Caribbean Football Union which, these days, is a paper organisation controlled by CONCACAF, and reached out individually to every single Caribbean FA privately, verbally; and they’re calling in to say ‘we support you’. But they’re scared. They’re afraid. Officially, we stand alone against Fifa.”

In the hours following this interview, the TTFA received a letter from Véron Mosengo-Omba, in which he informed them of the appointment of three members of the normalisation committee, another two to join them after consultation with CONCACAF . TTFA’s response was still under review as we published this story, which will be updated as fit in the days to come.

Hadad is now in charge... he’s connected to the govt... this alone tells me the govt is also complicit in this nonsense... I’m haopy we are now seeing who truly controls football and wants no part of an honest and progressive federation

Further to this, I find Fenwick is unusually quiet, what is his opinion of what is happening? He recently crossed swords with Look Loy and the board, is he happy about this or is he seeing the travesty unfolding and supporting Look Loy?

what if the government was to absolve this debt, would it be accepted by fifa or could it be perceived as government tampering? and if not, would fifa accept such an intervention and remove their measures on the TTFA?

I suggested this a while back but people said why should the govt bail them out... I’m like because it impacts the nation in a positive manner...

Now you will get pnm saying, oil is plummeting so we don’t have the money to help football but even when oil was high it’s the same excuse.. at least Wallace and Ramdhan was much more transparent than previous admins and could have been trusted to bail out football for the betterment of our society

It wouldn’t be considered tampering if they inject it into football directly and monitor payments with no direct control over it.. but then you have to ask yourself, Rowley was there when infantino visited and was neck and neck... I wouldn’t put it past them that the govt is also complicit as well and have sold out

listen mate I’m not going to get into the political ping pong with you but i certainly disagree with the notion that the the prime minister had any hand in this nonsense, especially when he called out infantino when he made his speech at the opening of the home of football, even I was embarrassed when rowley went on to say that fifa was a mafia and initially he was very skeptical about getting involved in the project, and he would reserve all judgement until later.

from my position, dr rowley is a straight shooter who speaks his mind and it showed when he had no reservations in telling the big boss infantino how he felt about fifa and was pulling no punches in that regard. as for the government paying this debt off, it’s not a pnm or unc thing, it all depends on if it’s legal and would it be supported by the tax payers themselves.

it’s an election year, and with this virus eating away at the worlds economy and oil prices at an all time low, this might be the worst time to even think about parting with funds for insignificant ventures. remember how patrick manning was reviled for giving the World Cup players a million each?

I have a lot against both pnm and unc... there are things I know that gives me reason to not like either one of them that I won’t speak about on a public forum...

Hadad is now in charge and this goes straight back to the govt and certain parts of the private sector, they are hell bent on using ttfa as an avenue for corruption and keeping down Cfu and Caribbean football... it’s becoming more evident by the day, which I warned everyone about

what if the government was to absolve this debt, would it be accepted by fifa or could it be perceived as government tampering? and if not, would fifa accept such an intervention and remove their measures on the TTFA?

I suggested this a while back but people said why should the govt bail them out... I’m like because it impacts the nation in a positive manner...

Now you will get pnm saying, oil is plummeting so we don’t have the money to help football but even when oil was high it’s the same excuse.. at least Wallace and Ramdhan was much more transparent than previous admins and could have been trusted to bail out football for the betterment of our society

It wouldn’t be considered tampering if they inject it into football directly and monitor payments with no direct control over it.. but then you have to ask yourself, Rowley was there when infantino visited and was neck and neck... I wouldn’t put it past them that the govt is also complicit as well and have sold out

listen mate I’m not going to get into the political ping pong with you but i certainly disagree with the notion that the the prime minister had any hand in this nonsense, especially when he called out infantino when he made his speech at the opening of the home of football, even I was embarrassed when rowley went on to say that fifa was a mafia and initially he was very skeptical about getting involved in the project, and he would reserve all judgement until later.

from my position, dr rowley is a straight shooter who speaks his mind and it showed when he had no reservations in telling the big boss infantino how he felt about fifa and was pulling no punches in that regard. as for the government paying this debt off, it’s not a pnm or unc thing, it all depends on if it’s legal and would it be supported by the tax payers themselves.

it’s an election year, and with this virus eating away at the worlds economy and oil prices at an all time low, this might be the worst time to even think about parting with funds for insignificant ventures. remember how patrick manning was reviled for giving the World Cup players a million each?

Patos did the right thing but should have done that for other sectors of society as well..

Rowley even if he had the money to allocate he wouldn’t bail them out, he’s a part of that old corrupt system.. he can throw words to make himself look like the greater person when in fact that’s to throw people off... when collusion is concerned you have certain people that will pretend to be against their friend to not let on they are complicit, it’s deception

The real test is when the economy rebounds and the dust settles, will the govt do the right thing, I doubt it, 6 decades and they haven’t

that's nonsense. dr rowley took money from a lean treasury to finish the brian lara cricket academy, he also contribute whatever little he could IN THESE ECONOMICALLY LEAN TIMES to the cpl, and i believe if we were in a better position fiscally and had surplus budgets in the past few years, then i believe it would have been very possible, more so with him than any other prime minister.

and while we're on the subject of trinidad, when was the last time you went to trinidad? some people just stay in the diaspora and caste aspersions based on popular opinions.

In Hollywood there is Hollywood accounting, a prime example is the movie Forrest Gump... over 678 million made on worldwide box office receipts, with only a 55 million dollar budget and almost the same in marketing costs, as it ran through WBs worldwide output network.

In any normal situation you would figure, Forrest Gump made money right? Well it didn’t, or according to WBs accounting it lost money. Meaning the author who created it, licensed the option made very little afterwards outside of writers residuals etc... This prompted him to not license the sequel to the movie studio, hence the reason we never saw a part two...

Let’s just say, the the public sector of certain nations work in a similar manner, whether it be energy, steel, oil etc. Meaning, how do we show losses, how do we show we didn’t make a profit? How do we cook the books to enable siphoning of public funds etc.. facts that are not Foreign to some people but some prefer silence....

what if the government was to absolve this debt, would it be accepted by fifa or could it be perceived as government tampering? and if not, would fifa accept such an intervention and remove their measures on the TTFA?

I suggested this a while back but people said why should the govt bail them out... I’m like because it impacts the nation in a positive manner...

Now you will get pnm saying, oil is plummeting so we don’t have the money to help football but even when oil was high it’s the same excuse.. at least Wallace and Ramdhan was much more transparent than previous admins and could have been trusted to bail out football for the betterment of our society

It wouldn’t be considered tampering if they inject it into football directly and monitor payments with no direct control over it.. but then you have to ask yourself, Rowley was there when infantino visited and was neck and neck... I wouldn’t put it past them that the govt is also complicit as well and have sold out

listen mate I’m not going to get into the political ping pong with you but i certainly disagree with the notion that the the prime minister had any hand in this nonsense, especially when he called out infantino when he made his speech at the opening of the home of football, even I was embarrassed when rowley went on to say that fifa was a mafia and initially he was very skeptical about getting involved in the project, and he would reserve all judgement until later.

from my position, dr rowley is a straight shooter who speaks his mind and it showed when he had no reservations in telling the big boss infantino how he felt about fifa and was pulling no punches in that regard. as for the government paying this debt off, it’s not a pnm or unc thing, it all depends on if it’s legal and would it be supported by the tax payers themselves.

it’s an election year, and with this virus eating away at the worlds economy and oil prices at an all time low, this might be the worst time to even think about parting with funds for insignificant ventures. remember how patrick manning was reviled for giving the World Cup players a million each?

I have a lot against both pnm and unc... there are things I know that gives me reason to not like either one of them that I won’t speak about on a public forum...

Hadad is now in charge and this goes straight back to the govt and certain parts of the private sector, they are hell bent on using ttfa as an avenue for corruption and keeping down Cfu and Caribbean football... it’s becoming more evident by the day, which I warned everyone about

please mate leave me be, i can’t do this with you anymore, i’m burnt out with your conspiracy theories from the last administration, now youre back at it with the government and FIFA supposedly being in bed together because this haddad bloke is somehow a pnm supporter. look man I don’t like to curse, but right now your comments have me livid and left me feeling like cursing at you.

no more of your ridiculous notions, the government has absolutely nothing to do with fifa, they don’t need fifa for anything, in fact they have more money than fifa. you sir are a nutter.

Hadad is now in charge... he’s connected to the govt... this alone tells me the govt is also complicit in this nonsense... I’m haopy we are now seeing who truly controls football and wants no part of an honest and progressive federation

Further to this, I find Fenwick is unusually quiet, what is his opinion of what is happening? He recently crossed swords with Look Loy and the board, is he happy about this or is he seeing the travesty unfolding and supporting Look Loy?

Partial credit. Badaboom badabing.

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"It is not possible to make successful policy in a state of ignorance or indifference to what goes on in the real world." --- Martin Daly.

A three-member FIFA normalization committee (NC), headed by chairman Robert Hadad, was appointed on Friday to take over the governance of T&T football with immediate effect.

FIFA, the world governing body for the sport of football, in collaboration with the Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) will appoint two more members over the coming days, a release from the FIFA stated.

The appointments came even as displaced members of the T&T Football Association (TTFA) which included president William Wallace and his three vice presidents were, through their Attorneys Dr. Emir Crowne and Matthew GW Gayle, on the verge of applying to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) to have the decision by the FIFA to appoint a normalisation committee to manage the affairs of local football rescinded.

FIFA, on March 17, took a decision to enforce articles 8.2 of its Statutes, which states: ‘Executive bodies of member associations may under exceptional circumstances be removed from office by the Council in consultation with the relevant confederation and replaced by a normalization committee for a specific period of time."

The committee is not supposed to last more than two years, with a mandate that also includes organising fresh elections of a new administration of the embattled football association.

Hadad, a businessman by profession who is one of three Chief Executive Officers of the HADCO Group of Companies, will bring a wealth of experience from the corporate community in T&T, as attempts are made to turn around an organisation that the FIFA considers being on the verge of insolvency following a claim by the TTFA that it has a crippling debt of TT$50 million.

Apart from Hadad, a member of Queen's Park Cricket Club, the committee also comprises retired international banker Nigel Romano, a Director and Partner at Moore T&T, who is also a former chairman of the JMMB Bank, as well as American-based Attorney and Environmental Law Specialist Judy Daniels, who is well respected in Environmental Law.

Guardian Media Sports was reliably informed that all three were interviewed before being appointed.

Romano told Guardian Media Sports on Friday that: "I agreed to serve and do whatever I can base on my experience and expertise which is banking, accounting and organisational management.”

"I will be bringing proper governance and then hope that we would get football back to where it should be, which is getting the youths involved, getting women involved, and making a difference to football in T&T with a more professional managing association. There is work to be done, and we will be reaching out and working with all the various interested parties to come to the right conclusions and outcomes,” said Romano.

He later admitted being stepping into uncharted waters over the next few months given the poor state of football in T&T in general, saying he has no real idea of what the road ahead will look like.

Daniel is an attorney-at-law of over 30 years experience and has had a broad practice in civil law. She started working in the Attorney General’s Chambers of T&T where she focused on providing advice and litigation on constitutional law, contracts and disputes, tort and liability claims. Daniel worked as Legal Consultant to Environmental Advisors Inc. her own self-starter company in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Daniel is highly regarded as a key advisor by senior managers as having a unique combination of strong legal and technical skills in a broad range of areas and the ability to produce workable solutions.

<Wallace team to make decision on Saturday>

When contacted Wallace on Friday said he will be meeting with his vice president Clynt Taylor, Joseph 'Sam' Phillip and Susan Joseph-Warrick to decide on their next step now that the FIFA has announced the Normalization Committee to manage T&T football for the next 24 months.

He said whatever decision they agree upon will be communicated to their lawyers Matthew GW Gayle and Dr Emir Crowne on Saturday. He said, "What decision we come to will be in the best interest of T&T football."

On March 20, the TTFA through its lawyers sends a pre-action protocol letter to FIFA to have the governing body for the sport rescind the appointment of a normalisation committee via a letter from its Secretary-General Fatima Samoura dated March March 17 and addressed to general secretary Ramesh Ramdhan.

The TTFA lawyer Gayle, also sent a letter to Tyril Patrick, who FIFA appointed as caretake administrator on March 17, until the normalisation committee, warning him that if he complies with FIFA's instructions then the formal proceeding will be initiated through the High Court. He was given until Monday 23 to respond but instead to communicated on March 21 that he indicated to FIFA that he was no longer interested in the appointment.

Meanwhile, following news on Friday that FIFA had announced the name of members of the normalisation committee Michael Awai of T&T Pro League club AC Port-of-Spain, said the debt that has burdened the country for many years will be cleared finally, while other revenue-generating initiatives such as the Home of Football, will finally be put in place. Awai, the founder of FUTGOF, Future Generation of Footballers in T&T Academy, added, the sport has been in dire need of people with a business hand and the team of Hadad, Romano and Daniel and the others two members to be named will turn the sport around.

The mandate of the normalisation committee is:

- to run the TTFA’s daily affairs;

- to establish a debt repayment plan that is implementable by the TTFA;

- to review and amend the TTFA Statutes (and other regulations where necessary) and

- to ensure their compliance with FIFA Statutes and requirements before duly submitting them for approval to the TTFA Congress;

- to organise and to conduct elections of a new TTFA executive committee for a four-year mandate.

EXPERIENCED businessman Robert Hadad believes he can help “clean up” the TT Football Association’s (TTFA) financial woes, making it clear that he is not aligned to any past administrators.

Hadad, who started the HADCO Group almost 30 years ago with his brothers Joseph and John, has been hired by FIFA as the chairperson of the normalisation committee to help bring some financial stability back to the TTFA.

On March 17, FIFA made the decision to disband the TTFA executive led by president William Wallace.

FIFA and CONCACAF found that TTFA was not in a position to run football effectively in a fact-finding mission and decided to break up the TTFA hierarchy and form a normalisation committee to take over. On the reasons to disband TTFA, FIFA said, “The mission found that extremely low overall financial management methods, combined with a massive debt, have resulted in the TTFA facing a very real risk of insolvency and illiquidity. Such a situation is putting at risk the organisation and development of football in the country and corrective measures need to be applied urgently.”

Wallace was only voted into office in November, 2019 and said he inherited a debt of $50 million.

Days later, it was revealed that former finance manager of the TTFA Tyril Patrick was appointed to lead the normalisation committee, but he declined the position. Patrick was an employee of the TTFA administration under former president David John-Williams, who led the local football body for four years until November, 2019.

Hadad will be joined by deputy chairperson Judy Daniel and committee member Nigel Romano on the normalisation committee. According to a media release, “FIFA administration, in consultation with CONCACAF, will appoint two more members in the coming days.

“The mandate of the normalisation committee will include the following: to run the TTFA’s daily affairs; to establish a debt repayment plan that is implementable by the TTFA; to review and amend the TTFA Statutes (and other regulations where necessary) and to ensure their compliance with the FIFA Statutes and requirements before duly submitting them for approval to the TTFA Congress; to organise and to conduct elections of a new TTFA executive committee for a four-year mandate.”

The normalisation committee’s job will end when the assigned tasks are complete, but it would not last more than 24 months.

Hadad, speaking with Newsday, said he understands the new committee’s role. “Of course everybody knows the reason why FIFA is putting in a normalisation committee, because the finances of TTFA are all over the place and they are not sure who to believe…as far as I understand my job today and the team I am with is to perform a fact-finding mission on exactly what the payables are and to rectify it in terms of a payment plan.

“How do we pay off all these debts? How do we put the TTFA back on solid foundation?”

One of the financial issues facing the TTFA recently is lack of documentation concerning the Home of Football in Couva. TTFA members continuously asked former president John-Williams to make information available.

Hadad does not have experience in football administration, but is confident he can get the job done with his experience and his lack of allegiance.

“I guess they were looking for somebody who is in business…maybe they were also looking for somebody who is not aligned to any of those parties that fought (in the elections) against David John-Williams (in) William Wallace and (Richard) Ferguson. I am not aligned to any of them.”

Concerning his fellow committee members Daniel and Romano, Hadad said they are respectable, responsible, hard working people and is excited to work with them. Hadad, who worked with Romano in the past, said he planned to talk with his fellow committee members on Friday.

When Hadad accepted the job he told FIFA he would be accessible to the media.

“I am going to be very transparent, I am extremely transparent and I told FIFA that.” Hadad said the impact of coronavirus was also a factor in him accepting the offer from FIFA.

“What made me take the job I’ll be very honest with you. In light of what has happened in the last couple of weeks I have been really moved to say corporate Trinidad cannot just sit down on the outside and not be involved in the running of key institutions in our country.”

Hadad, who is satisfied that the country has come together during the coronavirus pandemic, said he was inspired to do more.

“Is this a sign that maybe I should be doing something more? When FIFA asked me if I would do this job I said ‘yes’ because life is so short, life is too short and I said ‘let me try, at least try.’ I believe in myself and I think I have the ability to bring people together.”

This story was originally published with the title "Hadad leads TTFA normalisation committee" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

Businessman Robert Hadad has been appointed chairperson of the FIFA normalisation committee that will take over control of local football. FIFA also appointed Judy Daniel (deputy chairperson) and Nigel L Romano (member) to the committee. FIFA made the announcement via e-mail on Friday and said it will appoint two more members in the coming days.

The FIFA press reelase said the mandate of the normalisation committee includes: to run the TTFA's daily affairs; to establish a debt repayment plan that is implementable by the TTFA; to review and amend the TTFA statutes (and other regulations where necessary) and to ensure their compliance with the FIFA statutes and requirements before duly submitting them for approval to the TTFA Congress; to organise and to conduct elections of a new TTFA Executive Committee for a four-year mandate.

The normalisation committee has 24 months maximum to fulfil its duties. No member of the normalisation committee will be permitted to vie for a post in the next TTFA elections.

« Last Edit: March 28, 2020, 07:25:30 AM by Flex »

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The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

This entire chapter of the history of football in Trinidad and Tobago is rich with irony, laden with fertilizer and not lacking contradictions. As the narrative builds there are certain inescapable conclusions from the mapping of the truth that will haunt some people even in their graves.

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"It is not possible to make successful policy in a state of ignorance or indifference to what goes on in the real world." --- Martin Daly.

So wait ! I want ask if I may, wasn't it not too long ago that the very > Fifa responsible for having statutes adopted by the ttfa with their Fifa approval ? Now Fifa wants the very statutes they previously approved of changed ! Who de azzzz do they think they're fooling ? Games and politics obviously at play here .